A lot more weight than last week. Still way below my past heavy duty squat weights. But I'm very happy with the weight. This was a lot more than I thought I would be doing my 2nd week back under the present circumstances, i.e. my health problems.

Good Mornings:71 + 56 = 127 x 10 reps.161 + 56 = 217 x 8 reps.

Good to add this back into my routine. Builds up hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. One of my favorite exercises and one that has always helped me build up my squats and deadlifts. When the weight goes up in this exercise, my other lifts go up accordingly!

A quick up date. Ever since my last squat workout I have had very low energy. I just feel so lethargic. I think I may have over done it. I just want my weights to go back up so bad, I think I rushed it. My ability to recover from an intense workout (relatively speaking) is just so poor right now, I have to be very patient and ease into it. No ego. Just use my head! Since that workout, I have just been doing some walking every day. Nothing very long but just to get my blood circulating. I am just so shocked how poor my recovery system is right now. I used to have so much endurance and could do one intense workout after another for months before I felt the need to back off for awhile. I also notice that stress and worry drains me now. Between my own health concerns, I have the major responsibility for the care of my elderly Mother who is an Alzheimer's unit. She's getting great care but it is so hard to see my Mom like this. She was a dynamo all her life and one of the most intelligent people I know. My Father suffered from the same disease also before he passed away and he was the original "Ironman" in our family. There was nothing he couldn't do. He was the "Jack of all trades and quite a Master of most of them!" My experience with my late wife and my parents and their devastating diseases and my inability to be able to "fix" them has been a very humbling lesson to me. Now I am facing my own health challenge and trying to remain positive and empowered to fight back with everything I've got and more! I think even going into this "over trained" state this past few days also has an effect on my usual optimism. Fighting my cancer is a physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual challenge and all my love of my family and friend is my drive to keep at it. So enough of this pity party! Back at it with just more patients and reasonable restraint from trying to make too much progress too soon!

Been walking, walking, walking the past few days. I'm feeling a lot better. I plan on starting my recumbent bike again on Tuesday, but regular interval program and no "Sprint Eight" intensity adjustments for awhile. Wednesday I will begin with some light upper body weight lifting. Break in slower this time. I thought I was breaking in slow enough the last time but I need to go even lighter for awhile. I have to tease my conditioning up with out over extending my current limited recovery abilities. I have to practice patients. Not always my strong suit! LOL

This is head check time. Poop or get off the pot! I need to keep my focus and stead go its in my vegan diet and recovery training plan. The diet has been good for almost a year now. Changing over to a whole plant based diet from my past meat/dairy/fat laden based diet has been relatively easy. I would never had imagined that if someone had told me I would be doing that just a few months before I switched over. While most of my prior SAD (Standard American Diet) was not the most healthy, I did always like vegetables and fruit, and I also avoided white breads, rice, and potatoes (except for lots of french fries!). So there was at least some prior appreciation of whole plant foods. With all the physical pain I was experiencing beginning last February, I was highly motivated to do anything to help myself. After about two months of testing, two operations (TURPS), and wearing a Foley Catheter all during that time, (plus two more months before it was finally successfully removed) I was given the bad news that I had Fourth Stage Prostate Cancer. If someone could have told me that there was scientific evidence that eating bull manure would save my life, I would have done it! Whatever it would take!

Luckily I discovered lots of scientific evidence about the benefits of a vegan diet in fighting cancer. Beside the "Intellectual" understanding about vegan diet and fighting cancer, physically I "knew" I was on the right path almost immediately the first few weeks of my new diet. My energy, my feelings of having a clearer head and thinking, and even my bowels elimination process had greatly improved! And I just felt more empowered in fighting my cancer. This was something I could do instead of passively waiting around to die!

Now I also decided to trust my Doctors and accept conventional medicine approach to treat my cancer. I agreed to undergo the 8 1/2 weeks of radiation treatment and I also started my hormone (Testosterone) depletion therapy. I knew going into it that this was going to make me very weak but I really had no idea how much! I went from being one of the world's most strongest men for my age Masters Class (60- 65 yrs) SHW (Super Heavy Weight) to barely able get up off a chair with great effort.

Even though I was a big man, my body was very solid a year ago but now I am very flabby. I have lost so much muscle mass and replaced it with fat! I have lost about 55-60 pounds over the past year but I think most of that was muscle! This has at times been very discouraging to me but I have been able to wrap my head around it and decide I can fight back against that too! When I was first diagnosed with my cancer, I was in so much pain, I couldn't exercise. Also wearing the Foley Catheter prevented me from doing anything except for some short walks but even that was very uncomfortable! My treatments were leaving me feel so weak, even if I didn't have that catheter I could not have done much more than that anyways. The last two months I was wearing the catheter, my Urologist tried to slowly try to get me off the catheter. Every time he removed it, I was unable to urinate on my own and had to go back on it within a few hours. I was also having a lot of blood clots that blocked the catheter that were very painful so I had to have the catheter changed several time to remove the blockage. I also learned how to unblock them myself by injecting sterile solution back up the tube to break loose the clot in my bladder so I could pass my urine again! What an ordeal! At this point after more than a year dealing with all of this, I can hardly believe all of this has happened to me and I have somehow muddled my way through it all!

I think my taking stock of all of this and realizing how much I have been able to over come is very vital in my gathering my resolve to continue on my path to recovery! And my recovery has been a roller coaster ride. Many successes and many relapses or set backs. My wife and I went on a Cruse at the end of November for a week to celebrate my progress recovering. We had a great time and was a real affirmation of life and our hope for the future! And a week after we got back is when I had my big fall and had my major concussion that set me back so far. But back up and at it again. I gain some physical conditioning back for awhile and then I'm set back. I did a lot of walking in preparation for our cruse and of course a lot of walking while we were on it. Then I'm unable to walk hardly at all while I was recovering from my concussion. My sensitivity to light, noise, and nausea keep me house bound sitting in a dark room for several weeks. I couldn't take any of my supplements and my PSA went back up somewhat. From my low of .5 this past Fall up to 8.12 in February. That was a real blow to my confidence that I was beating my cancer. But at least that is way lower of my high of 47.2 last March! My cancer Doctor had even told me that she thought I was "disease free" in my last office visit with her if my PSA came back as low as it had been in the Fall. Then a week later she called me with the bad news that my PSA was back up. Talk about a roller coaster ride!

So it goes. No one gets better in a straight line! There will be the ups and downs but hopefully gradually upward.

So I must remember how far I have come. I must keep striving to improve even if I had new bumps in the road. I can't let this defeat me. I must slowly add my physical exercises to support my gains from my diet. I got to keep putting it all together to win! I must regain some of my muscle mass to speed up my metabolism once again. I know a few guys who have gone on the hormone depletion therapy who gain lots of weight besides loss of their muscle mass and ended up having heart attacks and one even had a stroke. I must slowly lose more weight for many health reasons. So it goes! So it goes!

Things are finally going together both diet and exercise wise. My weight is dropping and I seem to be building up my conditioning and strength. Nothing spectacular but encouraging nevertheless! I weighted 303 this morning down 12 pounds since Feb. 19th. My goal is to get down to at least 220 and then reassess at that point if I need to lose any more. The more weight a man carries, especially if most of it is in his belly, tends to convert his testosterone into estrogen. High estrogen for a man is harmful for a man for many reasons but the top of my concern is that there are studies out there that point to that as a major source of prostate cancer in men. With my hormone depletion therapy (No testosterone!), my ratio of testosterone to estrogen would be way off anyways! So losing weight while keeping or build up my muscle mass is one of the best things I can do aid my recovery!

My workouts the past several days have been good. Lots of walking everyday! I have been riding my stationery recumbent bike every other day for 20 minutes. I have also been hitting the iron on alternating days. I try to do two leg workout a week, one being maximum effort day and the other focusing on speed. Same thing on upper body days. One maximum effort and the other dynamic effort. That is based on Louie Simmons Westside Powerlifing method that I had so much success with in my competition days. My maximum effort days are really pitiful in comparison to my past workout even a year or two ago, but I must say everything considered, I am pleased to finally be putting a little more weight on the bar and gradually adding a few more exercises in to round out my workouts. I just need to not get too enthusiastic and over train again! My ability to recover from hard workouts is still very poor so I must monitor my self and keep going slow but steady!

Yesterday I went for my weekly chelation and vitamin therapy I.V. This clears out any harmful heavy metals and helps build up my immune system. I'm trying to be as comprehensive as possible to fight my cancer on all fronts!

Had a few good workouts the past few days. Riding my bike and a good upper body workout. Nothing specular but still making slow progress. I'm looking forward to my leg workout tomorrow. I feel my enthusiasm coming back as my weights slowly but steadily increase.

I sent for my heirloom vegetable seeds from the "Seed Savers Exchange" a few days ago. My son-in-law and I are planning on raising healthy non GM vegetables this summer. Then I will know that my vegetables are the most healthy that I can get. Also good exercise. I'm really looking forward to that!

For those who may be interested, my current chelation and vitamin therapy I.V. is as follows. I get one bag of sterile water (250 cc) every Tuesday. It contains:Vit. C 10 ccVit. K 1 ccMag Sulfate 2 1/2 ccSodium Bicarb 5 ccFolic Acid 1 ccVit. B6 2 ccVit. B1 2 ccVit. B5Niaceinimide 1 ccEDTA 10 cc (This is slowly being increased every week until I get about 18-20 cc per week)Aminos 75 cc Other nutrients will be added in the next few weeks. Such as NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine), AHCC (Active Hexose Correlated Compound), and Glutathione.

This is all to clear out toxins (heavy metals, free radicals, etc.) from my system and to build up my immunities.

I finally feel like I have turned a corner. I'm making steady progress on both my cardio (Stationary Recumbent Bike & Walking) and my weightlifting. I'm not going to get overly excited and try and rush anything but I have been encouraged after so many set backs and several false starts. I do see my squats edging up to the 400 mark in the next month or two and everything considered I will be very pleased with that. Temporarily anyways! I will just reassess my progress as objectively as possible and make any further goals at that time. But I need to not get ahead of myself here!

I'm just amazed how my vegan diet stalled for awhile but when I was finally able to start exercising steadily once again, how I began to drop some weight. I weighted 301 this morning. That's almost 15 pounds in the past month. I know that will slow down and I'm ready for that. Too much too fast is not good under normal circumstances but especially now with my recovering from cancer.

I feel great! Rode my bike on Thursday and had a real good squat workout Friday. I've been able to lower my box height down to close to parallel and will be down to just below parallel in the next few weeks if all continues to go well. I did my speed box squats (after my warm ups) with a bar weight of 205 plus 56 pounds (8 sets of 2s with 30 second rest between sets) of chains that unload on the down movement (concentric) and reload on the upward movement (eccentric) of the squat. That is one of the ways to add contrast or accommodating resistant to the squat. We are stronger towards the top portion of the squat. So the reloading of the chain weight adds to more resistance in the top range and gives a more intensive resistance the entire range of the squat instead of just the bottom of the movement with just the bar weight. More bang for your buck! This is part of the training methods developed by Louie Simmons, a good friend of mine in the central Ohio area. Even though I am using much lower weights that his powerlifting champions, the methods still work for me to build up my strength without over training.

Saturday morning I weighed 300 pounds. Steadily losing my body weight while also getting slowly stronger. Just doesn't get much better than that! I'm fighting for both my health and my life. Lots at stake!

I did a 375 pound box squat last evening after my warm ups. I think I could have gone for 400 but I'm still holding back so as not to over do it. Just wearing a belt for support. No where near my old squat days but I'm making more progress at this stage than I though I could considering all the set backs I had. Just goes to show that we should never give up and just keep training intelligently and good things will happen!

Here are some of the concerns I must take in consideration as I take my Eligard shots.I have been very fortunate that I have not experienced most of possible side effects. I have had some "hot flashes" which I must keep a sense of humor about. And I have a lower rate of metabolism and weakness from muscle loss. My weight training is to counter act that as best I can! I think the one side effect I am most concerned about is the possibility of developing osteoporosis (condition where bones are thin and more likely to break). With my squats gradually increasing, I monitor any sensations of difficulty with my spine. I also make sure I get an adequate source of calcium and other nutrients by eating lots of dark green vegetables and just a well rounded vegan diet in particular. The following has been copied and pasted from a website about Eligard:

Leuprolide injection also comes as a long-acting suspension (Eligard) that is injected subcutaneously (just under the skin) by a doctor or nurse in a medical office or clinic and is usually given every 6 months. Your doctor will tell you how long your treatment with leuprolide injection will last.

If you receive leuprolide long-acting suspension (Eligard) as a subcutaneous injection, you may notice a small bump at the place where the injection was given when you first receive the medication. This bump should eventually go away.

Leuprolide may cause an increase in certain hormones (Testosterone mostly) in the first few weeks after injection called a "Flare". Your doctor will monitor you carefully for any new or worsening symptoms during this time.

Tell your doctor if you or anyone in your family has or has ever had osteoporosis (condition where bones are thin and more likely to break).

Plan to avoid unnecessary or prolonged exposure to sunlight and to wear protective clothing, sunglasses, and sunscreen. Leuprolide injection may make your skin sensitive to sunlight.

Leuprolide injection may cause side effects. Tell your doctor if any of these symptoms are severe or do not go away:

breast tenderness, pain, or change in breast size in both men and women

decrease in size of testicles

decrease in sexual ability or desire

swelling of the hands, feet, ankles, or lower legs

pain, burning, or tingling in the hands or feet

pain, burning, bruising, or hardening at place where injection was given

change in weight

muscle or joint pain

flu-like symptoms

acne

depression

unable to control emotions and frequent mood changes

nervousness

general feeling of discomfort or uneasiness

difficulty with memory

Some side effects can be serious. If you experience any of these symptoms, call your doctor immediately:

redness or swelling at place where injection was given

itching, rash, or hives

difficulty breathing or swallowing

pain in the arms, back, chest, neck, or jaw

slow or difficult speech

dizziness or fainting

weakness, numbness, or inability to move an arm or leg

bone pain

painful, frequent, or difficult urination

blood in urine

extreme thirst

weakness

dry mouth

nausea

vomiting

breath that smells fruit

decreased consciousness

sudden headache

blurred vision

vision changes

difficulty moving eyes

drooping eyelids

confusion

Leuprolide injection may cause a decrease in the density of your bones which can increase the chance of broken bones. Talk to your doctor about the risks of using this medication and to find out what you can do to decrease these risks.

Leuprolide injection may cause other side effects. Call your doctor if you have any unusual problems while receiving this medication.

I hope I'm not jinking myself by saying this but my training is really coming together. My squats are steady climbing. I did a 400 pound parallel box squat a few days ago and I was not straining to do it. I felt like I could have successfully squatted at least 20-30 pounds more. I'm looking forward to my Monday heavy squat day tomorrow. I may try to see if I can approach 450, but I will play it by ear and see how my warm ups goes before I choose my final attempt. I do know I do not want to hurt myself in any manner by either over training or by straining too hard. But I'm gaining confidence which is very important in making heavy attempts.

My cardio is improving also. My recumbent biking is steadily increasing in intensity too. I have move up from a Level Seven to a Level Eleven for twenty minutes. That is going very well.

The rest of my weight training is doing OK. Not as good as my squats but better nevertheless. My bench press is up to 200 x 3. I have to tease this slowly upward due to some rotor cuff problems. I do a lot of rehab exercises to help this but I must practice patients so as not to re-injure my shoulder. I also do lots of stretching exercises with bands to put some traction on the shoulder and improve my flexibility. It always feels so much better after I do that. Funny thing about my benches. My teammates always teased me that "IronSmith has a tin foil bench." Unfortunately that is true. But we all must work within our limitation and make the best out of the cards that have been dealt us. I find I do better with decline dumbbell bench presses than I do with a regular barbell bench presses. My shoulders seem much more stable doing them that way. The goal is to rotate between various but similar exercises and work around any injuries. As my dumbbell decline bench presses improve, my regular benches tend to improve too.

So things are going well. It is lots more fun training now that I have made some decent progress. I must just keep training intelligently and not over do my capabilities. So as much as I would love to hit a 450 squat tomorrow, I will hold back if it seems the more prudent decision!